Apparatus for photocomposing and the like



Feb. 16, 1960 R. T. NlEsl-:T

APPARATUS FOR PHoTocoMPosING AND THE LIKE l{Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 7,1951 PICK-UF DEVICE REPRODUCTION ATTORNEYS Feb. 16, 1960 R. T. NlEsETAPPARATUS FOR PHOTOCOMPOSING AND THE LIKE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed DBG. 7,1951 ZOCUDOOGQMK Feb. 1s, l1960 R. T. MESI-:T 2,925,465

APPARATUS FOR PHOTOCOMPOSING AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 7, 1951 4Sheets-Sheet 3 /DELAYED VlDEO OUIPUI /DELAYED PUQZSYNCGJTPUT f E Z 5 a z'S 'o INVENTOR P ROBERT T. NIESET Feb. 16, 1960 l R. T. NlEsE'r AAPPARATUS FOR PHoToooMPosING AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. '7, 1951 4Sheets-Sheef 4 INVENTOR RCBERT' T. NIESET United States Patent OAPPARATUS FOR PHOTOCOMPOSING AND THE LIKE Robert Thomas Nieset, NewOrleans, La., assgnor to (lllirod Associates, New Orleans, La., alimited partners 1p Application December 7, 1951, SerialNo. 260,549

8 Claims. (Cl. 11S-6.8)

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for photocomposing andthe like and particularly to such methods and apparatus involvingelectrical and electronic techniques.

The present invention pertains primarily to type justiiication, althoughthe invention is also useful in photocomposing generally wherein one ormore characters or words and the like may be individually treated as todimension and appearance.

Briefly reviewed, in the printing trade it is becoming common to prepareprinters plates by photographic methods. That is, instead of settingtype in the time honored manner, it is becoming the custom to prepare aprinting plate by photographing the copy and reproducing same on aphotosensitive material. The latter is subsequently developed orotherwise processed to produce a plate having raised portions which willapply ink to the paper when the plate is placed in a printing press.

In preparing plates for printing presses and the like it is customary todemand that the lines of characters be fjustified. This refers to thetechnique of having the right-hand ends of each line come out even topresent a uniformmargin down the right-hand edge of the printed sheet.Also, it may be desired to emphasize some portions of the copy, as byenlargement or other distortion. The principles of the present inventionare applicable to treating individual letters, words etc. within a givenline of characters, as well as line justification.

According, it is a primary object of the present invention to provideimproved electrical and electronic methods and apparatus for typejustification and photocomposing generally involving photosensitivetechniques.

It is a further object of this invention to provide methods andapparatus for utilizing television or facsimile scanning methods fortype justication and photocomposing.

It is a further object of this invention to provide photocomposing andjustification techniques employing either manual or automatic means forcreating reproductions of predetermined dimension from copy of irregulardimension.

lt is a further object of this invention to provide electronic methodsand apparatus for providing justification wherein data representing atleast a portion of a line of unjustified characters is stored pendingthe adjustment of the line length to be represented in reproducingequipment.

It is a further object of this invention to provide electronic type'justification techniques in which a line of characters is iirst scannedto determine its length and re-scanned to reproduce the line after theline length information has served to adjust the line length to apredetermined amountv in reproducing equipment. fHIt, is a furtherobject of this invention to provide electronic justiiication techniquesin which line length determination and reproduction are simultaneouslycarried 'out n terial.

vStill further objects and the entire scope of the invention will becomemore fully apparent from the following detailed description and from theappended claims.

The invention may be best understood with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which: q

Figure 1 shows a basic manually operated system for carrying out thepresent invention.

Figure 2 shows a further embodiment of a manually controlled system forcarrying out the invention.

Figure 2A shows a sweep coordination means.

Figure 3 shows a first embodiment of an automatic type justificationsystem.

Figure 4 shows one embodiment of a signal delay device which may beemployed with the circuit rof Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows another embodiment of a signal delay circuit which may beemployed with the circuit of Figure 3.

Figure 6 shows a second embodiment of an automatic justification system.

Referring now to Figure 1, a basic embodiment of my invention isillustrated. In this figure, 10 designates a camera or pick-up devicewhich may be of any conventional variety such as employed in commercialtelevision. 12 is copy such as a typewritten page having lines of thetyped characters to be justified as to the right-hand margin. Copy 12 isplaced behind a pick-up screening plate 14 in such manner that thecamera 10 can see only one line 11 of the copy at a time. The limitationot view is controlled by means of a slot 16 in plate 14, the slot beingso arranged that the horizontal sweep of the camera 10 will cover thecomplete line 11 of copy, but the vertical sweep will be restricted t0substantially only the heighth of the line. That is, the sweep willextend only a short distance above and below the tops and bottoms of thecharacters in the line of copy, so that there is no extraneous pick-upof characters in other lines of the copy. The arrangement is such thatthe copy may be raised and lowered with respect to the slot 16 in plate14 by any convenient means (not shown) so that the various lines of thecopy may be successively scanned.

As an alternative, the vertical scan may be accomplished by slowlymoving the copy unwardly, so that only a horizontal sweep is required inthe pick-up device 10.

A suitable lens system 18 may be employed to focus the line of copy inthe camera 10.

A receiver 2li may be any conventional variety of television receiverhaving suitable optics 19 for focusing the image on the tube facethrough a slot 22 in a display screening plate 24 onto a plate 26 ofphotosensitive ma- The photosensitive material may normally be protectedby a shutter 2S placed immediately behind the slot 22. As in the case atthe transmitter, the slot 22 in screening plate 24 may extendhorizontally a distance commensurate with the intended length of thelines in the photographic reproduction while the vertical heighth of theslot will be limited to substantially the heighth of one line of copy.Or, plate 26 may be moved upwardly in synchronism with copy 12 todevelop the vertical scan in systems having no vertical sweep per se.

Control circuits designated as 30 may be employed to control thevertical and horizontal sweep gain inthe receiver 26. The knob 32 may socontrol the horizontal gain and the knob 34 the vertical gain. It willthus be apparent that whatever the particular heighth and/or length ofthe line of copy picked up by the camerak 10, these dimensions may bealtered at will on the photographic plate 26 by adjustment ofthehorizontal and vertical controls atlcircuit'30. Accordingly, linejustiti- Y @V3 cation may be readily carried out by changing thehorizontal control 32 for each complete line of copy that is scanned sothat the line is elongated or compressed as required to meet the margincriteria. `As at the camera, the plate 26 at the receiver may be somounted that it can beA raised and lowered to permit reproduction ofeach successive line in proper orientation. Incremental adjustment oftheplate in a vertical direction will obviously permit correspondingadjustment in the spacing of each line of copy as may be desired.

Normally the shutter 28 will remain closed and means can be provided forobserving the length of the reproduced line on the shutter. Then whenthe desired length or heighth has been adjusted by the controls 32 or34, theshutter` is opened and the line photographed on thephotosensitive plate 26. Or, continuous operation may belper'formed bycorrelating the gain settings to line length as observed on the copy.

The mechanical movement of the camera and display screening plates 14and 24, respectively, may be synchronized by mechanical means (notshown), and the ratio of their movements adjusted in accordance with theenlargement or reduction of vertical size employed in the reproduction.

Photocomposing generally may be carried out by (l) restricting'thescanned raster of camera 10 or (2) restricting the apertures 16 and 22.By these methods, a single 'wordV or character, or any area of the copy12, may be selected. for distortion by means of controls 32 and 34. Y iReferring now to Figure 2, there is illustrated a more comprehensivesystem for carrying out photocomposing and line justification asdescribed above. In this figure 40, 42 and 44 are commercially availablecathode ray Oscilloscopes, of which an example is the Dumont model 304H.Each of the Oscilloscopes 40, 42 and 44 will be equipped with a sweepgenerator, a horizontal deflection amplifier and a vertical deflectionamplifier. These units are designated 40a, 40h and 40C, respectively, inoscilloscope 40 and similarly designated in the other Oscilloscopes as42a, 421;, 42C and 44a, 44b, 44C. Each oscilloscope will also beprovided with a cathode ray tube, designated 40', 42 and 44',respectively, in the oscillocopes 40, 42 and 44. Each of theoscilloscope cathode ray tubes will be equipped with the usual intensitycontrol grid, horizontal deiection plates and vertical defiection platesas indicated in Figure 2.

The intensity control grid of oscilloscope tube 40 may be adjustedat'any suitable control potential to provide a fine bright spot on theface of the tube 40. This spot may be focussed by aV suitable lenssystem 46 onto copy 48 to be composed or justified. Also, a suitablelens system 50 is provided at the tube 44 of the oscilloscope A44 forfocusing the spot on the tube of face 44 onto a photosensitive plate 52where the reproduction will take .place.

' :The spot will be of very smallVY size as compared to aY character.Generally the spot diameter should not exceed the width of-'the lineswhich form the characters, and'each successive line sweep will bedisplaced only by .the diameter of the spot. Therefore, there will besevlera'l sweeps over every line of characters.

The general operation of the system, as in the first describedembodiment, is to scan in raster form over the copy 48and to reproducethe copy in raster form at Vphotosensitive plate 52, except in modifiedform as to dimension, as will be explained.

The sweep generator 40a ofoscilloscope 40 is employed :to lestablishhorizontal sweeps throughout the system, land the sweep generator 42a ofoscilloscope 42 is em- .ployed to generate vertical sweeps throughoutthe system.Y

`.,;.The..-terms horizontal and vertical are employed here 'andelsewhere in this specification in the popular vision.

usage of the trade, and it is not intended to limit the ino vention tothose particular physical defiections.

The output of sweep generator 40a is applied to the input of horizontaldeflection amplifier 40h and also to horizontal defiection amplifier42b. The output of horizontal deflection amplifierV 40b is applieddirectly to the horizontal deflecting plates of tube 40'. On the otherhand, the output of horizontal deflection amplifier 42b is applied tothe horizontal defiecting plates of both tubes 42' and 44'. Y i

V'.Che output of sweep generator 40a is applied input of verticaldeection amplifier 42o and vertical defiection amplifier 40e. Theoutputof vertical amplifier 46c is applied to the vertical .deliecting platesof tube 4S while the output of vertical deliection amplifier '42C isapplied to the vertical deflecting plates of both tubes 42 and 44. Y

In operation the sweep generators 40a and 42a may be adjusted to causethe spot'on the face of tube'40' to sweep out a coordinated raster, asin commercial tele- The raster may completely include the copy 48 ormaybe limited to only a portion thereof. Also, defining apertures may beemployed to screen out portions of copy 48. Or, only a horizontal sweepmay be 'employed,with the vertical sweep being generated by slowlymoving the copy.

VSuitable photoelectric cells such'as photo multiplier cells 54 areconnected in parallel and so positioned with respect to the copy 48 thatthey may receive refiected light from the copy 48. It will be understoodthat copy 48 will be maintained in darkness except for the bright spotfrom tube 40'. Accordingly, while the spot traverses the portions ofcopy on which no dark marks appear, the photocells will receive light.However, when the spot traverses dark areas, the amount of lightreceived in the photocells will be diminished. A sweep will thereforeresult in a series of signals which can conveniently be termed whitesand blacks The indications detected from the photoelectric cells 54 bysuitable detecting circuits 56 are applied to the input of the verticalamplifier 44a of oscilloscope 44. The output of ampliler 44a is appliedto the intensity control grids of both of tubes 42' and 44'. In otherwords,` the amplifier 44e, normally used for vertical defiecting, can beconveniently employed as an intensity modulating circuit.

With good quality sweep generators 40a and 42a the relationship betweenthe sweeps may be maintained without other synchronization. However, ifdesired the sweeps may be coordinated by synchronizing signal generator58 as shown in Figure 2A.

As previously stated, the intensity control grid of tube 40 may bemaintained at a constant potential to provide a light spot of uniformbrightness on the face of the tube. Adjustment of the horizontalamplifier 40h and vertical amplilierwc will provide a raster of givendimensions Y on the copy 48. Rasters having simultaneous start times ofvertical and horizontal sweeps will simultaneously appear on the facesof tubes 42 and 44. This comes about because the horizontal amplifiers42,5 and 44h of Oscilloscopes 42 and 44 respectively are under thecontrol of sweep generator 40a, which also feeds horizontal ampliiier4Gb of oscilloscope 40. Similarly, the vertical defiection in eachoscilloscope is under the control of a single sweep generator, thatbeing generator 42a in oscil loscope 42.

Assuming that the copy 48 comprises a typewritten page, having irregularline ends at the right-hand margin, and assuming it is desired tojustify individual lines of type, the raster at oscilloscope 40 may beadjusted to scan the entire length of the line but only substantiallythe height of the line so as/to not pick up lines above and `below theone to be justified. The vertical amplifier 42e may next be adjusted toprovide the desired height of characters on the face of tube 42. Thiswill simultato -the neouslyf; produce characters of corresponding heighton the face of` tube 44. Next, a predetermined uniform line.. for`thelreproduction 52 may be decided upon and the-horizontal amplifier 42bmaybe adjusted so that the length of the line appearing on the face oftube 42' may be either elongated or shortened to meet the desired sspecification. Simultaneously a corresponding line length will appear onthe face of tube 44'. The shutter 51 may then be operated so that theline is reproduced. When either the copy 48 or the raster of tube 40' ismoved to y, scan the next line of type, the operator may again readjustcontrols are manually adjusted by an operator so that thev reproducedcopy is justified or otherwise composed as desired. However, by furtherembodiment of the present invention it is also possible to automaticallycontrol the dimensions of the reproductions so that lines areautomatically justified or other compensation automatically achieved.

` To accomplish automatic operation, there must. be.l a 'determinationof how the copy line length or other dimension corresponds to thedesired dimension and there must be an adjustment of the display systemin proportion to the ratio of the copy dimension to the desiredreproduction dimension. Referring to line justification as an example,under the above requirements the determination of the proper length ofthe horizozntal sweep display in the reproduction device may bedetermined in advance of the reproduction of each sweep line by either(l) storing what may be termed the videoi information until the line hasbeen completely scanned at the camera and an adjustment made, (2)scanning along a line a rst time to determine the length and to re-scanover the line in the same path for supplying the video information tothe receiver, or (3) by using the length of a previously scanned path toapproximate the length of the next path. Embodiments of such systemswill be described in more detail below.

Measurement of actual length of character indicia in each sweep alonglines in the original copy may be had b y providing starting andstopping signals at the beginf ning and end of the line. Such startingYand stopping signals may be by way of holes punched in the copy, byheavy black lines at the beginning and end on line or somesimilarsystems of notation. Or themeasurement may also be accomplished bydetermining the interval Within .one horizontal sweep in which voltagefluctuations occur in the output Vof the pick-up device.

Where some type of. notation such Vas punched holes, black lines and thelike are employed, a signal such as generated by transmitted orreiiectedlight at the beginf ningofthe scanning of a line may start acounting device, oscillator otr-mechanical timing system that measuresthe interval between the signal at the beginning and the occurrence o fa similar signal at Lthe end of the line. The sweep rater. overs theline may be constant and therefore thek time interval may be used as ameasure of length of the line.

The above mentioned embodiment in which the voltage uctuations measurethev line length may be based on the fact that` asy the. flying lightspot from the camera begins to illuminate the first character in theline, the output circuitry of thephotocells willshow an abrupt change involtage output as the video signal is def veltpup/ecl.` 'I'hevideosignalmay be rectified and asubg stantial voltagev derived while thesignal exists. This` rectified voltage can be used toturn on a timingdevice by switching, for example, a conventional fiip-iiop circuit. Thefiip-fiop circuit can be held in its on or set position by the rectifiedvoltage from the video output. Then, at the end of the line when thereis no further video output until the next line is to be scanned, theflip-flop circuit may be switched back to its off or reset position,cutting off the time responsive device to provide the measurement oflength.

Referring now to Figure 3, one embodiment of an automatic composing andjustification system is illustrated.

- Inthis figure, 8l) designates the camera or pick-up device and thisdevice is arranged to scan a raster on the copy 81 under the control ofvertical and horizontal synchronizing pulses generated in a horizontaland vertical sweep synchronizing pulse generator designated S2. This maybe as described in connection with the preceding embodiment. Theso-called video signals will be produced over line 84 and these will beapplied simultaneously to a line length measure device 86 and a videostorage delay device 88.

The line length measure device 86 may comprise a rectification circuitand one or more amplication stages to provide sufiicient direct currentto energize a solenoid coil 90. That is, as the flying spot scans alongthe line of copy and during the time a video signal is available on line84, a uni-directional current will tiow through coil 90 to pull anarmature 92 against the action of a tension spring 94. Depending uponthe average time duration of video signals as a line of copy is scannedalong a sweep path, the armature 92 will assume a predetermined positionagainst the action of spring 94. The term average is resorted to toexplain the fact that where the first and last letters of the printedline do not have a horizontal portion, but may be irregular, the timeinterval of the rectified video signal will be slightly different.However, the physical inertia of the armature 92, spring 94 and otherparts connected therewith (and damping means if desired) will serve toignore minor irregularities. The fly-back time of the spot will alsoatiect the position of the armature 92, but this also will becompensated for. The same action will result if the device 86 operatesin response to markers at the beginning and end of each line, instead ofby rectification.

Attached to armature 92 through a suitable linkage is an arm 96connected with a potentiometer knob 98 which is part of a horizontalsweep adjuster circuit 100, the latter circuit being provided foradjusting the horizontal gain in a reproducer 102. The arrangement willbe such that where the lines on the copy are longer than the desiredjustified length longer pulses of current will flow in the solenoid coil90. This will have the effect of increasing the relative amount of timeon current in coil 90, which will pull the armature 92 further into thecoil against spring 94 so that the potentiometer 90 will be rotated in adirection to decrease the horizontal sweep gain in the reproducer 102.On the other hand, where the length` of a line in the copy is less thanthe desired justified length shorter pulses will flow in coil 90, thuspermitting spring 94 to rotate potentiometer 98 in the other directionto increase the gain of the horizontal sweep in circuit 102,Accordingly, it will be clear that the arrangement may be adjusted toautomatically justify the lines to form a predetermined uniform margin.

In order that the sweep gain in reproducer 102 may be adjusted'beforethe video information is applied to the intensity circuits of thereproducer, it is desirable, as above indicated, to either store thevideo information momentarily or to re-scan the same path over the lineof" copy. In Figure 3, the video storage delay device 88 will serve, tostore the entire line of video information for a'4 time period sufcientto permit the sweep of re.

, producer 102 to be adjusted 100. The circuit 88 may take a variety offorms, A l Basically, in nearly all applicationsthe video informationwill consists of a predetermined sequence of blacks and whites,7resulting from a spot or equivalent intercepting bits of the charactersas it sweeps along the line of characters. Such a series of signals maybe stored in a chain of elements which may register in one of twoconditions. Forexample, the elements of such a chain may be thyratrons,cold Ygas discharge tubes, ccles-Jordan trigger pairs, magnetic relaysor magnetic saturable core devices. Suitable storage may also beprovided by electromagnetic wire or tape storage devices and manyothers. I

l Referring now to Figure 4, the delay device 88 of Figure 3 may mostconveniently be a length of magnetizable tape 120 running over rollers122 and 124. The roller (122 may be driven clockwise a viewed in Figure4 yby means of any suitable electric motor 126provided with speedgoverning and adjustment circuits (not shown). A video signal recordingmagnet 12S may be positioned to to operate in a rst track 120e of tape120 and a synchronizing signal recording magnet 130 may operate in asecond track 120i). Located at another point along tape 120 may be avideo pick-up magnet 132 and a synchronizingsignal pick-up magnet 134.There `may also be provided an erase magnet 136 for `carrying atdirectcurrent and positioned to erase signals in both tracks 120a and 120b topresent a clean tape tothe recording magnets 12S and 130. Y Y d Y Y Themotor 126 may beoperated to continuously cycle the tape 120 at uniformperipheral velocity. ,Thisvelocity may be correlated with the physical'spacing between the recording heads and reading heads to provide adevsired delay time between the recording and reading of data. The speedand space will also be arranged to permit the longest possible completeline Vof copy to be recorded on the tape and to permit any otheradditional delay time required before the beginning of the signals ispicked up by the reading magnets 132 and 134.

In operation, the video input signalwill be applied to magnet 123 andthe horizontal synchronizing pulse from circuit S2 (Fig.l 3) will beapplied to the synchronizing signal magnet 130. The synchronizing signalapplied at magnet 130 will serve to record a magnetic ux pulse on thetape 120, in track 120b, to indicate the start of the line of videoinformation which will begin simultaneously with the synchronizingpulse. K

After the synchronizing pulse in track 120b has` r0- tated intoproximity with the synchronizing signal pick-up magnet 134, a pulse willbe available on line 138 to trigger the horizontal sweep in thereproducer 102 of Figure 3. Simultaneously therewith thebeginning of thevideo by the sweep adjuster circuit the video pick-up head 132 over line'138.

'gin to sweep across the tube face at such speed that it will reach apredetermined point (representing a line of predetermined length) at theend of the time interval during which the video information will beavailable from Accordingly, if circuit 100 has adjusted the sweep inreproducer 102 to be fast, the reproduced line will be longer than theoriginal copy line. On the contrary, whereA circuit 102 is adjusted tohave a slow sweep the line will be shorter than on the original copy.VIt will be clear that the above system is adaptable to arrangements inwhich the scan is developed as a repeatedY raster, or is developed bygradual movement of the copy and reproduction plates. vy Referring nowto Figure 5, another embodiment of circuit suitablefor the delay device38 of Figure 3 is illustrated. This device comprises electronic counter150 such as a thyratron ring counter havingY n stages designated 1, 2,3, 4l-nth in Figure 5. Each stage of signal will be picked up by videopick-up head 132 and has elapsed to permit the sweep adjuster circuit tohave properly adjusted theV horizontal sweep time of the reproducer 102.p j d 'Y The video information will now be read from the tape throughthe pick-up head 132 over the Sametime interval as was required toreceiveA the video line at pickup device 30 and record that line throughthe video recording head 120. The time interval is the lsa'rne becausethe speed of motor 126 will have been maintained constant. l f y Thehorizontal synchronizing pulse available-on line 138 will start thehorizontal sweep in the reproducer 102, but since the circuit 100 hasacted to adjust the speed or rise time of the horizontal sweep inreproducer 102, the reproduced line may be shorter or longer than theline detected by the pick-up device 80. lIn greater detail, the lightspot in reproducer 1.02 will bethe ring counter is connected to bias acontrol gridV 152 of a series of thyratron tubes 154. The second controlgrid 156 of each of the thyratrons 154 is coupled to a video signalinput line 158. The line 158 will be maintained either at a first lowvoltage representing awhite or at a second or high voltage representinga black video signal. Thus, it will be understood that as the ringcounter is cycled to apply a positive control pulse first at the firststage, then at the second stage, etc. through the nth stage, each of thethyratrons 154 will be enabled and will lire if it so happens that thehigh or black signal is present on the video input line 158 at theinstant when a particular thyratron is otherwise enabled from thecounter 150.

The counter may be supplied with a series of tiring pulses from firingpulse generator 160. These pulses may be frequent enough to provide thedesired resolution in the horizontal sweep in the pick-up device S0(FigfS). Each horizontal synchronizing pulse developed inrth'e generatorcircuit 82 (Figure 3) may be applied over line 162 to set a hip-nopcir-cuit 164 to open a gate 166. The output of pulse generator then willbe applied over line 168 to operate the counter 150. The output of thenth stage of theV counter 150 may be applied over line 172 to reset theip-op 164, and in addition the nip-flop 164 in its reset position mayserve to reset the counter 150 to 0. This reset circuit may be inaddition to the fact that counter 150 may automatically re-cycle tostart at the 0 position simultaneously with gate 166 being closed andnip-flop 164 being reset.

As the scanning of a sweep along a line on the copy progresses, at suchtime as the first thyratron 154 is enabled by the rst stage of thecounter 150, if the video input line 158 is at a high or black voltage,the second control grid 156 thereof will permit the thyratron to tire.Then as the second thyratron is enabled from thecounter, if the video'input remains at a high voltage this second thyratron will tire. On thecontrary, if the video input has dropped back to a lower or Whitevoltage, the second thyratron will not tire. Thus,V as the counter stepsthrough n counts, the thyratrons will be left in conducting ornon-'conducting condition as detected by the 4vdeo input. It will beunderstood that the number of thyratron stages represents the resolution'of Ythe reproduction. For reproduction of type such as that in whichthis specication appears, there may be as many as four stagesper'character. The resolution will generallybe based upon the number ofdiscrete positions the scanning spot 9.,. equally diiferentvoltagelevels. The entirevoltage divider: circuit comprising a battery 178 orother suitablesource may then be normally. biased; at a suitable.voltage to permit conduction to occur in each of the thyratronsras thering counter and4 video,A input may enable them for firing.

When the entire line has been stored in the chain of thyratrons, theoutputy pulse available on line 172 mayv be. applied to a delay circuit180 to permit the gain in the reproducer 102A (Figure 3)4 to beadjusted. The out-r put of circuit 180 may then trigger the horizontalsweep in the reproducer 102; At the same time, a video output to thereproducer 102 will be made available on a line 182y (Fig. 5) coupledthrough a capacitor 184 to the cathode circuits of each ofthethyratrons. That is, each cathode 186 of the thyratrons` will beconnected to ground through a cathode resistor 188.

The voltage divider circuit, comprising the resistors 176:1, b, etc.will be connected to be biasedon a negativegoing simulation of thedelayed horizontal sweep in reproducer 102 so as to progressively movethe entire set of anode voltages of thyratrons 154 toward a morenegative value. The simulated sweep will be triggered at the same timeas the actual sweep, but will be adjustably amplified under control ofcircuit 100k (Fig. 3). The anode voltage of the first thyratron willhave previously been adjusted to be just above the threshhold ofconduction, with the other stages of the thyratron chain progressivelyabove the threshhold of conduction. Accordingly, as the anode voltagesare decreasedv by reason of the simulated sweep voltage, the firstthyratron will be cut off (if conducting). Then the second thyratronwill be cut off (if conducting) and so forthv through the complete chainof thyratron. Each time a conducting thyratron is cut off, a voltagepulse will appear on video output line 182 because of thecancellation ofthe previously existing voltage drop across` the cathode resistor 188.ofthe thyratron involved. However, if the tube was not conducting, thenthere willbe no voltage drop and no pulse will appear on line 182.Accordingly, it will be apparent that as the thyratrons are cut off,either a pulse or no pulse will appear on line 182 as the horizontalsweep progresses in the reproducer 102. The pulses will represent blacksand canv be employed to decrease the intensity of the spot in reproducer102 to create a black on the reproduced copy. The whites can besimilarly produced in the justified copy by reason of the absence of apulse on line 182. In this instance, the length of the justified linewill be dependent upon the length of the horizontal sweep in reproducer102. That is, the complete line of information will be available in thechain of thyratron tubes andare available on the line 182 whenever thesimulated sweep voltage reaches predetermined values. Where the gain ofthe simulated sweep voltage in reproducer 102; as adjusted by circuit100, is arranged to have the simulated voltage at a maximum after thespot has travelled a relatively short distance across the tube face, thejustified line will be shorter than the corresponding line from thecopy. However, where the sweep is adjusted to reach the maximum valueonly when the spot is completely across the reproducer tube face, thenthe justified line will be longer than the line in the copy.

Referring now to Figure 6, an alternative embodiment of an automaticjustification system is illustrated. In this embodiment the requirementfor storage o-f the video information is dispensed with and replacedwith an arrangement for re-scanning each line after the lengthadjustment has been determined. The horizontal and vertical sweepsynchronizinggenerator here designated 82 will be arranged to develop avertical sweep in steps, there being enough elapsed time at each step topermit two horizontal sweeps in the pick-up device 80. Stepped sweepsmay be generated by stepping oscillators, as is well-known in the art.The horizontal synchronizing pulses will, be applied to the input of aiiip-ilopl circuit 200-which1l willalternately open first a gate 202 andthen agate 204; The first sweep` along a line of the copy will find gate204op'ened1so thatthe video information will bey applied to the linelength measuring device 86. This will act through the solenoid coil 90,armature 92, and arm 96 to establish a4 justified sweep in reproducer102. Then, the next horizontal pulse issuing from circuit 82' will serveto closegate 204 and open gate 202. Since the second horizontal sweepwill be at the same verticalY position on the copy, an identical streamof video information willv now iiow over line 206 to the reproducer 102.The horizontal sweep of reproducer 102 will be simultaneously triggeredover line 208 to start the horizontal sweep inV reproducer 102. Again,the physical inertia of armature 92, arm 96 and so forth will serve to`establish an average justified line length at reproducer 1.02; A voltageavailable on line 210 may be employed to blank the reproducerv when noinput is applied over line 206.

An` extension ofthe foregoing embodiment may be to utilize a lessernumber than one-half of the sweeps for length measurement. In fact, onlyone length sweep could be relied upon, per line of characters on thecopy.

A further modification of the automatic adjustment circuit may be toapply the video signals directly to the line length measure device 86and directly to the reproducer 102 without regard either to storing thevideo signal. (Fig. 3.) or to alternately detecting linel length andreproducing the video information (Fig, 6). With a si.- multaneousapplication of video information to both circuits 86V and' 102, if thesolenoid arrangement comprising armature 92, etc. is caused to haveconsiderable inertia, the continued scanning of a raster at the pick-updevice will ultimately result in the armature 92 reaching a quiescentposition which will represent the average length of the copy line ingeneral. The reproducer 102 then will produce a line which is justifiedto fairly close tolerances. After the stated quiescent condition hasbeen reached, the reproduced line may be photographed. Moreover, Wheremarkers at the beginning and end of the lines are employed to operatethe length sensing means, the sweep adjustment of reproducer 102 willoccur immediately, and the reproduction may be continuously exposed tothe reproducer light output.

FromY the foregoing detailed description of various embodiments of myinvention, it will be apparent that basi.- cally I provide uniquemethods and apparatus for photo,- composing, justification and the like,which may provide a completely automaticsystem for justifying type.Also, it is apparent from the foregoing that various manipulations ofthe viewing apertures and both horizontal and vertical gains a completesheet of copy or subportions thereof may be distorted as desired toprovide photocomposing in general.

It will be understood that the foregoing detailed description has beenmerely for purposes of illustration and is not intended to limit thescope of my invention. On the contrary, the scope of the invention is tobe determined from the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In apparatus lfor line justification, first scanning means forscanning in closely spaced paths of predetermined length over copy inthe direction of lines of characters appearing on the copy, theaforesaid means including a means for sweeping an electronicallyAresponsive means over an entire line length on the copy, means tomaintain the copy in operative proximity to the first scanning means,reproducing means responsive solely to the signals generated by thesweeping of the aforesaid means over the copy and including secondscanning means for reproducing the copy, and means for modifying atleast one dimension of the reproducing scanning patte-rn with respect tothe dimension of the scanning pattern of the first scanning means, thelast-mentioned means comprising means to detect the length of lines ofcharacters on the copy, the detecting means including means forautomatically adjusting the second scanning pattern in the direction oflines of characters on the copy so that the lines of charactersreproduced in the second scanning pattern are of equal length. Y

2. In apparatus for line justiiication, first scanning means forscanning in closely spaced paths of predetermined length over copy inthe direction of lines of charactersappearing on the copy, the aforesaidmeans including a means for sweeping an electronically responsive meansover an entire line length on the copy, means to maintain the copy inoperative proximity. to the first scanning means, means to deect thelirst scanning means in two directions to develop a scanningpattern'over the copy, reproducing means responsive solely to thesignals generated by the sweeping of the aforesaid means over the copyand including second scanning means Vfor reproducing the copy, and meansfor modifying at least one dimension of the reproducing scanning patternwith respect to the dimension of the scanning pattern of the firstscanning means, the last mentioned means compris@ ing means todetect thelength of lines of characters on the copy, the detecting meansincludingmeans for automatically adjusting the second scanning patternVin the direction of lines of characters on the copy Vso that the linesof characters reproduced in the second scanning pattern are of equallength.

3. In apparatus for line justilication, rst scanning means for scanningin closely spaced paths of 'predetera mined length over copy in thedirection of lines of characters appearing on the copy, the aforesaidmeans including a means for sweeping an electronically responsive meansover an entire line length on the copy, means to maintain the copy inoperative proximity to the first scanning means, means to deflect therst scanning means in'two directions to develop a scanning pattern overthe copy, means including aperture means for restricting the scanningpattern to a predetermined portion of the copy, reproducing meansresponsive solely to the signals generated by the sweeping of theaforesaid means over the copy and including second scanning means forreproducing the copy, and'means for modifying at least one dimension ofthe reproducing scanning pattern with respect to the dimension of thescanning pattern of the first scanning means, the last mentioned meanscomprising means to detect the length' of lines of characters on thecopy, the detecting means including means for automatically adjustingthe second scanning pattern in the direction of lines of characters onthe copy so that the lines of characters reproduced in the secondscanning pattern are of equal length.

4. In apparatus for line justilcation, rst scanning means for scanningin closely spaced paths of predetermined length over copy in thedirection of lines of characa means for sweeping an electronicallyresponsive means over an entire line` length on the copy, meansto'maintain the copy in operative proximity to the tirst scanning means,means to deect the first scanning means in a single direction and meansto move the copy relative to the first scanning means in a directionsubstantially at right angles to the single scanning direction todevelop a scanning pattern over the copy, `reproducing means responsivesolely to the signals generated by the sweeping of the aforesaid meansover the copy and including second scanning means for reproducing thecopy, and means for altering the length of the scan of the firstscanning means, the last-mentioned means comprising means to detect thelength of lines of characters on the copy, the detectingA meansincluding means for automatically adjusting the second scanning patternin the direction of lines of characters on the copy so that the lines ofcharacters reproduced in the second scanning pattern Vare of equallength. o

5. Apparatus as inl claim 1 and further including storage means forstoring signals representing indicia sensed by the first scanning meansfor a time periodsuticient to permit modification of the second scanningmeans by the adjusting means.

6. Apparatus as in claim 2 and further including storage means forstoring signals representing indicia sensed by the first scanning meansfor a time period suicient to permit modication of the second scanningmeans by the adjusting means.

7. Apparatus as in claim and further including storage means for storingsignals representingindicia sensed by the first scanning means for atime period sutiicient to permit modification of the second scanningmeans by the adjusting means.

8. Apparatus as in claim 4 and further including storage means forstoring signals representing indicia sensed by the first scanning meansfor a time period suicient to permit modication of the second scanningmeans by the adjusting means.

References Cited in the leof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FranceOct. 15, 1934

